{"id":2976,"date":"2021-08-20T15:13:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T12:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/tanssin-historia\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2023-09-04T15:14:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T12:14:47","slug":"pina-bausch-historically-conscious-and-radical-reformer-of-dance-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/tanssin-historia\/en\/pina-bausch-historically-conscious-and-radical-reformer-of-dance-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Pina Bausch \u2013 Historically Conscious and Radical Reformer of Dance Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I am not so much interested in how people move but in what moves them.<\/p>\nPina Bausch<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch is an iconic figure on the European dance scene. Her groundbreaking work with the dancers of the Tanztheater Wuppertal gave new meaning to the German concept of Tanztheater<\/em>, which had evolved from Ausdruckstanz <\/em>in Germany and Austria of the1920s. Its famous developers were Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss and Rudolf Laban. Under Bausch\u2019s leadership, the Tanztheater Wuppertal became increasingly well-known from the late 1970s onwards, until it had a worldwide audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bausch\u2019s experimental search for her own form of artistic language, challenging the dialogue between dance and theatre and developing new dramaturgical and performative forms were at the heart of her artistry, although almost without exception, her pieces (St\u00fccke<\/em>) were performed on large, traditional stages for large audiences. From the beginning, Bausch\u2019s art was defined by questions about the relationships and possibilities between theatrical space and performing and between audience and performers, for which everyday movements and everyday activities and habits, traditional dance techniques, speech and song provided the formal tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pina Bausch dances in her piece Caf\u00e9 M\u00fcller<\/em>. 10.9.2008. Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. \u00a9Josep Aznar. MAE. Institut del Teatre<\/b>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bausch\u2019s importance for art dance can be considered very special, since humanity and the difficulty of being human in an unjust and cruel world become the main themes in her work. The human being with their fears, pettiness, joys and sorrows, the tragedy of humanity and yet, in the midst of it all, the longing for intimacy and laughter were essential to Bausch\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bausch\u2019s dance theatre has been compared to the theatre of Beckett and Ionesco \u2013 \u201cTheir literature is in no way didactic: they neither preach or teach\u201d[1]<\/a> \u2013 in which humankind\u2019s innate capacity for stupidity and incomprehension is one of the central themes. Bausch\u2019s work almost always included absurd situations and humour, which could turn into violence at lightning speed and then slide into slapstick. Levels of humour, cruelty and tenderness intersected in the pieces, always leaving interpretation to the viewer \u2013 no definitive answer to questions was given. The alternation of comedy and tragedy made the violence in the pieces tolerable.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interpreter of Her Era<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch was born on 27 July 1940 in Solingen, Germany. It was the first year of the Second World War, and Bausch\u2019s youth was set in West Germany in the aftermath of the war that had then claimed the most lives in the world. Bausch belonged to a generation of artists whose work expressed the surrounding society and its many tensions and contradictions, as well as an awareness of the recent past with its many unresolved questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany\u2019s existence, history and values had been buried with the collapse of Nazism. After the end of the war in 1945, Germans began the frenetic construction of a new society, which included widely divergent views of the lost war and its causes, as well as divergent relations with the Holocaust, which largely defined the country\u2019s atmosphere and cultural life. There was a desire to move forward and create a new welfare state, to forget as soon as possible the horrors of the past war and to keep silent about its experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pervasiveness of Bausch\u2019s art and its relationship to the world can be understood through her personal history. Her identity has always been defined by dance. Pina Bausch began dancing ballet as a child and in 1955 was awarded a scholarship to the Folkwangschule in Essen, which even then was known for its interdisciplinary approach to the arts. Besides dance, the school offered the opportunity to study visual arts, photography, graphic arts, music and mime. Students were encouraged to cooperate with other departments.[3]<\/a> These influences provided Bausch with the opportunity to develop in a multi-artistic atmosphere and laid the foundations for her future work as a choreographer. In her own words, the most important teacher was Kurt Jooss, who can be considered a pioneer of European modern dance. Jooss was one of the founders of the Folkwangschule and created its dance group. Bausch later said: \u201cWhat good fortune to have met him at such a decisive age.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing her studies at the Folkwangschule, Bausch was awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship to study at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. This period also proved to be decisive for her future. Her studies included the Graham technique, taught by Mary Hinkson, a dancer in Martha Graham\u2019s company. Other teachers included Jos\u00e9 Limon, Anthony Tudor and Margaret Craske.[5]<\/a> Bausch\u2019s experience was that in New York, people from different cultures and backgrounds, nationalities, fashions and aspirations could coexist. This multiculturalism was something she later appreciated in her dance company.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After her studies, choreographer Anthony Tudor, artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, took Bausch into his company, where Bausch worked as a dancer until 1962, when she was invited to join the Folkwang Ballet under Kurt Jooss. The decision to return to Essen was not an easy one, but gradually Bausch was given the opportunity to try her hand at choreographing for the group. Studying and working in New York provided an important platform for Bausch\u2019s developing art.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1969 she became director of the Folkwang Tanzstudio, and in 1973 she was appointed director of the Wuppertal B\u00fchnen Ballet. The ballet company soon became known as the Tanztheater Wuppertal. In 1983 she was also appointed head of the dance department at the Folkwang University.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pina Bausch developed her choreographic thinking throughout her life. Her work with the Tanztheater Wuppertal as its choreographer and artistic director could be divided roughly into three distinct phases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n